Need to reach Professional Heights? Escape Your Comfort Zone

The first time I heard about “Escaping your Comfort Zone”, was four years back while I was in my first job and listening to our newly selected CIO. Someone in the crowd had just asked him about one success mantra which got him to this role.

Sitting there in the auditorium, I couldn’t understand why someone would give up something which he or she aces in to go after a goal that does not play to their strengths. At that point in my career, it was too early for me to make sense of those words of wisdom. I was used to seeing people around me hold onto their comfort zone with all their might.


The aggression with which many defended their projects and teams draw similarities the ferocity of hunting animals marking their territory. In organizations which thrive on IT Operations & Maintenance, knowing the levers & gears of the system is like a pirate possessing a map to the treasure chest.

Now four years later, I can finally understand the importance of letting go of your comfort zone. Five months back, I had been handed over the reins of a project with a 300+ workforce and a negligible Return on Investment (ROI). After months of long work hours, fire-fighting mode of operations, shuttling between cities & hotel rooms, we had brought the project to stability. Not just that we brought it to stability, but we drastically improved the ROI by 50%.

But once we had reached a state of stability, sluggishness set it. From a state of adrenaline pumping rush, we had slid down to a state of predictability & repeatability. Without even answering the phone we knew what had gone wrong where & even knew the solution to it. There was no challenge left, we could do our work with our eyes closed & still ace at it. But more than anything, we stopped learning.

While holding onto our precious comfort zone and playing to our strengths which we perfected over time, we often lose an opportunity to learn or experience something new. In spite of all the framed motivational posters up on the wall, way too often, we fail to see the learning opportunity each new challenge carries. We have been accustomed to think that the comfort zone we have reached is a reward for all the effort we have put in to gain the knowledge & strengths.

Slowly, but surely, our comfort zone becomes our brain’s retirement home. Remember during school days how we forgot all what we learnt by the time we returned from vacation. Our job’s comfort zone is a vacation where our brain goes into retirement, but unlike in school here one cannot have a long learning curve. To stay ahead of the curve it is important to keep oneself challenged always & learn something new.
Everybody have different ways to keep a check on their career. Mine is to keep checking what am I learning new in the job I am performing. It needn’t be always something quantifiable or good enough on your resume. It could be a social skill or a communication style, but as long as it enriches your career, you are headed in the right direction.

Get out of your comfort zone and get learning – That’s probably the biggest aspect that may take you to professional heights!

Source:Internet

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Recipe for success - Eat the frog

If you are wondering that a person who eats frog must be insane, then the answer is big NO. The long term benefits of eating frogs are substantial – glowing cheeks, shining hairs, muscular body, and a healthy heart. Even now if you are resisting eating frogs then let me tell you how to do it. Let’s start – hold the frog tight and put it in your mouth. Don’t think; just put it in your mouth. Ummm. How does it taste? Yummy, Yummy! What!! You don’t like eating it? Stop lying! Oh okay okay, it stinks, it got stuck in your throat. No, No please don’t vomit, hold your nerves. Yes, that’s it! See it’s over! It is not as hard as you thought. You have swallowed the frog and you are still alive (though the poor frog is not). Now you have gained all vitamins and proteins necessary for a healthy body in short time which pizzas, chips and drinks would have not provided during lifetime.

Daily, we come across activities which we don’t really enjoy. Jumping out of bed at the first alarm bell, making the first sales call, learning from criticism, following up with prospective clients, regular gym routine, planning the day in advance – all these are examples of eating the frog. One doesn’t really enjoy the process but once performed, the results are extra-ordinary. Eating the frog refers to performing the task which is crucial for our growth but performing the task might not be fun. We tend to procrastinate, avoid such task and then later regret our decisions.

The irony is the more displeasing the task appears, the higher is the rate of return attached to it. 80/20 rule applies here also. Generally 20% of your action will result into 80% of achievement. Prepare a to-do list for your day. Now observe and you will find that if you roughly complete 2 tasks out of 10, you will have a successful day. Yes! You have guessed correctly, those 2 tasks are the frogs, the ones which you want to postpone. But the case with the frog is that it is easier to eat it fresh, than to swallow it rotten. The more you procrastinate, the harder it becomes. If you give yourself time to think, the mind will come up with thousands of reasons why it is okay not to eat the frog and avoid brief pain. Do you recollect, last time you decided to sleep just for 5 more minutes and got up an hour later, last time you said to self that you will start exercising from tomorrow and you are still waiting for that tomorrow, last time you delayed reading that business book and now it has become a part of dusty shelf. The formula is simple – stop thinking and just do it!

The difference between highly productive people and others is that the former are good at eating frogs. Entrepreneurs take risk, athletes undergo rigorous practice, leaders take tough decisions – these are activities which ordinary people avoid. You know what is important, don’t procrastinate, just do it. The more frogs you eat the healthier you will be, the more difficult tasks you perform the wealthier you will be.

A quote from Michael Dell : “There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don’t like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don’t spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.”

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